10/4 NXT TV Tapings Report from Full Sail University: Spoilers for next four weeks building up Takeover, big Regal announcement about special match

Note: Triple H is in India, and announced via Twitter this will be the first NXT tapings he has missed.

DARK MATCH

(A) No Way Jose defeated Marcel Barthel via pinfall. Jose led a conga line of fans before the match. Comedy spots defined the early exchanges before an illegal eye rake from Barthel evened the contest.

The fans observed a moment of silence in remembrance of the victims of the Mandalay Bay massacre.

EPISODE 1

-William Regal announced Nikki Cross will get another opportunity to qualify for the NXT TakeOver: Houston fatal four way for the women’s title due to Taynara Conti’s interference in her triple threat match. He added that he has spoken to the Authors of Pain and Undisputed Era about proper conduct, and that the Authors will receive their title rematch on NXT TV.

(2) Nikki Cross won a battle royal to qualify for the TakeOver: Houston fatal four way for the vacant women’s title. The title is displayed on a pedestal atop the ramp. Much of the crowd was audibly awaiting Shayna Baszler, who did not emerge.

Nikki Cross immediately eliminated Taynara Conti, who then pulled Cross to the outside under the bottom rope. Nikki reappeared midway through the match, splashing most of the remaining competitors from the top turnbuckle. In the final five, Bianca press-slammed Candice to the outside. Kay used Belair’s ponytail to hang on, saving herself from elimination. Belair responded with a brutal ponytail lashing. Martinez and Belair double-teamed Kay, who tumbled through the ropes to the outside with Cross. Belair and Martinez exchanged maneuvers, winding up on the apron. Cross reentered to eliminate both women before Kay reentered to attempt an elimination on Cross, who hung on. Thinking she’d won, Kay was dumped out by the victorious Cross.

Regal entered with the vacant title. The four qualifiers – Cross, Moon, Royce & Sane – posed in the ring.

-Aleister Black entered for a match, but was attacked from behind by Velveteen Dream. Dream tied Black in the ropes and slapped him twice. Black escaped when Dream went for a running attack, he ran Dream from the ring and stared him down.

-Zelina Vega complained Andrade “Cien” Almas has been waiting a week for a contract for a title match with Drew McIntyre, and accuses McIntyre of ducking Almas. She claims McIntyre and Roderick Strong are too weak to breathe the rarified air at the top of the mountain.

(3) Andrade “Cien” Almas (with Zelina Vega) defeated Roderick Strong. The two went blow for blow until Vega hit a flying hurricanrana to the outside on Strong while the official’s back was turned. Almas capitalized with his finisher for the win.

-Undisputed Era entered with a slightly modified tron to meet the defeated Strong in the ring, and offered him an Undisputed Era armband. Strong accepted it, but did not adorn it as Undisputed Era left. The crowd chanted “Yes!” Strong considered heavily before taking it with him as he left.

EPISODE 2

(1) Nikki Cross defeated Taynari Conti via pinfall. The vacant women’s title graced the top of the ramp, and Cross admired it on her way to the ring. Conti debuted a new entrance. Cross “hulked up” by slapping her own face as Conti kicked her.

(2) Fabian Aichner defeated Johnny Gargano via pinfall. This was exactly the excellent match one may expect between these two, the highlight of which was a massive powerbomb from Aichner to Gargano. Aichner overcame by countering Gargano’s babyface comeback with a roll-up pinning sequence. This felt like a statement win for Aichner.

-Drew McIntyre is shown signing a contract in William Regal’s office.

-A table was set up in the ring, and McIntyre entered with the contract. Andrade “Cien” Almas attacked him on the stage, flanked by Zelina Vega. Almas hit McIntyre with the title and signed the contract.

(3) Authors of Pain defeated Alexander Wolfe & Eric Young via disqualification, Wolfe & Young retained the NXT tag titles. It appeared other talent had been banned from ringside for the match, though Paul Ellering did escort the Authors for their entrance. Wolfe & Young entered to a noticeably brighter lighting scheme.

The Authors isolated Wolfe for some time before Young turned a hot tag in to a two-count following a top rope elbow drop. The match devolved to chaos and the Authors hit their team finisher, appearing on the verge of reclaiming their titles. Undisputed Era took to the ring to break up the pinfall.

-In the fallout of the tag title match, Killian Dane attempted to make the save to no avail. As Undisputed Era stood tall, Roderick Strong emerged and put on his Undisputed Era armband. Undisputed Era held up Eric Young for Strong, but Strong attacked Adam Cole instead and cleared Undisputed Era from the ring. Strong threw the armband at the trio as they fled toward an exit.

A furious William Regal stormed to the stage to declare that he would have order. He announced a triple threat tag match between all teams present at TakeOver: Houston. He then announced the only match type that would contain these teams hasn’t been seen in 20 years – a match with two rings inside a cage. Yes, as the new TakeOver graphic on the screen soon confirmed, these teams will face off for the titles in War Games.

EPISODE 3

(1) Heavy Machinery defeated a tag team via pinfall. Heavy Machinery’s popularity surged as they comedically squashed the jobbers. At one point Otis Dozovic spanked the shorter of his opponents, then did the worm.

(2) Kairi Sane defeated Billie Kay (with Peyton Royce) via pinfall. The women’s title was displayed on the stage. Royce attempted a distraction to no avail. Sane’s elbow drop featured extra torque. Sane celebrated by motioning that the vacant title will soon be around her waist.

-Following the match, Dream took the mic to say, “Aleister Black… Gotcha!” He went on to challenge Black to a match at TakeOver: War Games, and said Black’s lips would say his name. Dream exited with no interest in posturing for the camera.

EPISODE 4

(1) Street Profits defeated Riddick Moss & Tino Sabbatelli via pinfall. Street Profits enter to an updated tron. Albeit brief, the Profits showed their first sign of vulnerability before Dawkins scored a solid right jab for the win. The Profits celebrated in the crowd, and held up a fan-made banner.

(2) Lars Sullivan defeated Raul Mendoza via pinfall. Sullivan evaded Mendoza’s agile offense early, and countered a top rope springboard by leaning in to it with a massive headbutt. He began to lay waste to his relatively puny competition with impactful splashes in the corner and devastating forearms before mercifully ending the beatdown with a gutwrench slam.

-Following the match highlights, Sullivan went back for more on Mendoza but was interrupted by a casually clothed Kassius Ohno. Sullivan belly-laughed in Ohno’s face and walked away.

(3) Ember Moon defeated Mercedes Martinez via pinfall. The vacant women’s title, of course, was at its place on the stage. Martinez gave Moon a competitive match but fell to the Eclipse.

-After the bell, Nikki Cross came through the crowd to confront Moon. Peyton Royce and Kairi Sane took their places on the ramp and stage, respectively, and the four stared each other down.

-Drew McIntyre took to the ring to paraphrase “The A-Team”, exclaiming, “It’s great when a plan comes together.” He calls out Andrade “Cien” Almas for merely following Zelina Vega’s plan, and counters Vega’s prior claim about “mountains” by declaring that he himself is the mountain. He then invites Almas to the ring, “unless Zelina won’t let [him] off the leash for the night.” There was a lot of mustard on that “unless.”

Vega emerged alone at first, soon followed by Almas in a suit. Almas quickly attacked McIntyre, however, and took advantage of a distraction by Zelina to get the upper hand on the champion. With McIntyre down, Vega snatched the title and stood tall with Almas.

(4) Roderick Strong defeated Adam Cole via disqualification. Cole entered alone to a loud “baybay” from the crowd. The match was then met early with an “It’s too quiet” chant. The two competitors went back and forth before Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly ran in to yank Strong from the ring.

-The Authors of Pain and Sanity’s male members ran in after the bell and a brawl ensued, highlighted by Alexander Wolfe diving out of the ring over the top rope, and Strong superplexing Cole in to a sea of humanity on the outside.

AFTER THE TAPING

-As fans exited Full Sail Live, the Street Profits – under studio lighting – stood atop a red Mustang. Montez Ford praised the gathering crowd for their class. He said they could have been anywhere tonight, but they chose NXT. He then invited a child to join him in “raising one” before he and Dawkins took selfies with fans and departed.

SHOW SUMMARY: In this edition of the Wade Keller Hotline, PWTorch editor Wade Keller reviews Raw start to finish with rundown and analysis of show including final Summerslam angles with Paul Heyman-Roman Reigns-Brock Lesnar, Ronda Rousey-Alexa Bliss, Seth Rollins-Dolph Ziggler with return of Team, Kevin Owens-Braun Strowman, and more. NOT VIP? [...]